This paper aims to critically examine the mental health challenges faced by international social work students in UK higher education. Drawing on ecological systems theory, acculturation theory and intersectionality, it explores how social, cultural, academic and structural factors interact across micro, meso and macro levels. Using peer-reviewed literature and sector guidance, the paper highlights issues of academic and practice socialisation, belonging and isolation, placement expectations, visa and financial pressures and barriers to support. It analyses how stress, cultural transition and social isolation shape students’ wellbeing, academic engagement and identity formation, illuminating often-overlooked needs within programmes demanding advanced reflective and relational skills.
This study draws on a qualitative interpretivist framework, which anchors on semi-structured interviews and reflective narratives that were gathered from postgraduate international social work students from multiple UK universities. In addition, the study deployed thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns that inter-link with cultural adaptation, academic pressures and the expressive demands of training. The analysis is situated within wider literature on acculturation theory and mental health of the international students’ experiences in social work course as a professional degree programme.
This study’s findings disclose three leading and interrelated interesting themes. Firstly, it is the heightened stress associated with academic expectations, financial challenges and overwhelming demands of placement practice. Secondly, students experienced cultural distance, social isolation, a lack of support networks and experiences of marginalisation, which exacerbate students’ mental health issues. Thirdly, challenging cultural transitions had huge impact on effective communication, which impacted on their confidence in practice placement generated a lack of sense of belonging. Most of universities’ wellbeing services habitually neglected and failed to address the exceptional cultural and emotional contexts of social work international students.
This paper explores the mental health journeys of international social work students in the UK, identifying critical support gaps within the future social work workforce. Framed through cultural transition and the emotional labour of social work education, it shows that wellbeing risks arise from interactions with institutional structures, policy regimes and a placement-intensive, emotionally demanding curriculum rather than international status alone. The findings offer implications for universities, placement providers, supervisors and recruitment sectors seeking to improve inclusivity, recruitment and retention. The paper concludes with recommendations for educators, regulators and policymakers and calls for longitudinal, intersectional and co-produced research to advance mental health equity, safe practice and workforce diversity.
